A/N: Wow…wow…I feel horrible…I haven't done anything with this story for months…so I feel bad. But Versipellis has been bugging me the entire time about it! :P So here goes...

BTW, remember that this was started after a few episodes of season 5, so many many things that were in season 5 and everything from season 6 thus-far never happened…got it?

Disclaimer: Alas…not mine…tear

Chapter 9

"What'd he say about it?"

The President looked wearily at his chief of staff. "What do you think?"

"Well," Leo replied, "knowing Josh, I think he blatantly refused and then got worked up about it, and knowing Donna, I think she then rushed you out of the room, scolding you for getting Josh worked up."

The President laughed quietly. "You got the first part pretty much right. I don't know, Leo. He's so insistent. I told him we'd let it be for a while, but the two of us and Ron are going to have to sit down and talk with him."

"Maybe we can find some way to make a deal with him. His mother might help us, I'm sure she'd be ecstatic about Josh having full time secret service protection. Of course, Josh would never forgive us if we got her involved."

"We'll figure out something."

s

Josh opened his eyes at the sound of a knock on the door.

"Is anyone home?" Josh heard a voice that he hadn't heard in months and quite frankly hadn't expected to hear again for years.

"Come on in," he said quietly and somewhat incredulously. "What brings you here, Mr. Vice President?"

"Please Josh, it's John. I know it's custom to use the title even after leaving office, but I'd prefer to just go back to being John Hoynes of Texas."

"Sure," Josh said understandingly, though still a little warily.

"I heard you were in the hospital, thought I'd drop by and see how you were. No need to seem so suspicious, Josh."

"Well thank you, that was very thoughtful. How have you been doing, Mr…- -John?"

"Not too bad," the former vice president of the United States pulled up a chair close to Josh's bed. "I got divorced a few months ago. It was probably for the best though. Susan was unhappy. But tell me, how are things going at the White House? The President doing well?"

"Everything's fine. Well, mostly everything. If everything was that good, I probably wouldn't be lying here," Josh joked. "Look," he paused, "It was very nice of you to stop by and everything, and I really do appreciate it, but I get the feeling that there is more that you want to say than just 'how are you' and 'get well soon.'"

Hoynes laughed. "You know, Josh, I could never get anything by you. You pick up on every little thing going on around you. That's what makes you so valuable as a politician. You can play off people's strengths and weaknesses. You're right, there is more that I wanted to discuss. I'm thinking of going back into politics."

Josh stared at him disbelievingly for several seconds.

"You know about my book coming out in a couple months, I presume?" Josh nodded wordlessly. "I was thinking, after that, maybe getting together a group, trying to get back into the Senate."

Josh finally found his voice. "I think that's great, Sir," he said. "But what does this have to do with- -…"

"You've been working in the White House for a long time, Josh. Longer than most would have expected you would be. I don't mean any offense," he added at Josh's look of protest, "but most people just don't stay that long. Most presidents, especially two-term presidents, go through two or three chiefs-of-staff alone."

"I work for President Bartlet now. I don't know what you think - -…"

"I just wanted to extend the invitation. If you maybe decided that White House politics weren't what you wanted to do anymore, there would be somewhere for you to turn. You're great at what you do, but you were better at what you were doing when you still worked for me. And with everything that's going on in your life right now. Am I right that the President and Leo are trying to force full-time Secret Service protection on you?"

Josh looked at him with surprise.

"You aren't the only person in the room with some amount of perceptiveness. Besides, that would seem to be the sensible thing to do, from their point of view. The President has always been so worrisome about his staff, it was unlikely that he wouldn't consider it after what happened."

Josh found that he couldn't say anything, and if he could, wouldn't know what to say.

Hoynes looked at his watch. "I'm afraid I have to be going. Just think about it, Josh. I'm not trying to force you into anything. I just thought you might be interested is all. It was great seeing you again. Give my greetings to everyone back at the White House."

"Sure thing," Josh said. "Take care."

"You too."

s

"Josh? Josh? JOSH?"

"Huh?" Josh finally looked up at his assistant.

"What is the matter with you, I was practically shouting your name? You seem really preoccupied! Or is it just the drugs? Are they giving you too much? I'll talk with the nurse, they might be giving you an overdose, we don't want that, bad things happen when- -…"

"Donna, it's okay," Josh cut in before she got any further. "I was just thinking about something and didn't hear you. I promise you, it's not the medicine."

"Well, if you're sure…" Donna looked suspiciously at him for a few seconds and then lightened up a bit. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Josh said too quickly. "I mean, nothing important. Nothing that you'd care about."

"You know," Donna said, "you really are quite weird sometimes."

"Thank you."

Donna rolled her eyes. "It wasn't exactly a compliment." She paused, not sure if Josh was ready to discuss the next topic.

"What is it?" Josh asked.

"What do you mean?" Donna asked defensively.

"You've got that look. Like you need to do something that you don't want to do."

"I do not have a look!" Donna insisted.

"Whatever you say." Josh said absently.

Donna glared at him for a few seconds. "Do I really have a look?" she asked.

"Oh yeah. This kind of glazed over thing goin' on with the eyes."

"I'm going to hit you with a pillow," Donna stated.

"Hey!" Josh protested, "I'm a guy in a hospital bed."

"Who's been insisting all day that he's well enough to go home!" She shot back.

"Fair point."

"Anyway, you're going home tonight. Doctors want a final checkup, make sure nothing unexpected happened."

"Like what?" Josh asked.

"Well how do I know if it's unexpected?"

"Another fair point. This isn't looking to good for me, is it?"

"Not really. I've already got two points on you. Maybe you're losing your touch."

"Never," Josh declared. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Leo and the President want to talk to you tomorrow. With Ron Butterfield."

"Donna," Josh whined.

"Well what I am supposed to do about it?" she asked. "The President wants to talk to you and I say 'no, sorry sir, he's just going to sit home and pout.'?"

"They're going to try to get me to sign the damn secret service protection form!"

"Maybe," Donna began hesitantly, "maybe it's a good idea."

"I can assure you it's not," Josh stated dryly.

"Why?" she asked reasonably.

"I won't be able to work! I'll be even more paranoid when I don't see the agent because I'll know he's there! I can't go through life with someone trailing my footsteps with a loaded gun."

"What are you going to do then?"

"I don't know."

s

"What is your main concern with having an agent watching over you?" Ron asked politely. They had been sitting here for what must have only been fifteen minutes or so, but seemed like an eternity to Josh.

"I like my privacy. I like to go where I want, do what I want," Josh replied. It was what he'd been saying from the start. "I don't want someone watching over me like I'm a little kid."

"You'll have plenty of freedom," Leo assured him. "It'll just be little things. You get used to it after a while anyway, you forget he's even there."

Josh sighed. "You're really not going to let this go?" he asked the President.

President Bartlet looked truly sympathetic. Josh hated it.

"I'm afraid I can't," he said sadly. "One of my family is in danger, I need to make sure he's safe. I need to be able to believe that you're okay. I'm sorry that you feel this way about it, Josh. But can't you see it from our perspective as well? We're only watching out for you, and sometimes we need to sacrifice certain things. Can you do that, for all of us?"

Josh nodded numbly. "Can I have a couple more hours to adjust before I sign the paper?" he finally asked.

"Sure," the President said. Josh excused himself from the room and headed back to his own office. The last person he expected to see was sitting at his desk, waiting for him.

"Zoey!" he exclaimed. He hadn't seen much of her since she had gone back to Manchester. "It's great to see you, you look good!"

She smiled at him. She really did look much better than the last time he'd seen her. "And you look like- -," he cut her off.

"Death on a triscuit, I know. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were," she said. "How are you?"

"I'm good," he said. She eyed him suspiciously. "Okay, okay, so I'm not good. My chest hurts, you're father is giving me full time secret service protection, and that may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me, and I'm inches away from a PTSD episode."

"Feel good to get that off your chest?" she asked.

"Oh yeah."

Zoey looked at him for several seconds, calculatingly and questioningly. Finally she spoke up.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you. About…you know. I've been seeing a psychiatrist. He says I'm experiencing minor panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder. I'll wake up and suddenly be back in a cold dark closet, half conscious but entirely too aware." She paused, unsure of what to say. "Is that how it was for you? I mean, the attacks?"

Josh was at a loss. This was about the last person he expected to be discussing this with. "Well, at first I didn't know what was happening," he began quietly. "I always felt sick and stressed. Then I put my hand through a window."

"I'm sorry," Zoey broke in, "am I being insensitive? I didn't mean to just come in here and…- -do you not want to talk about it?"

"No," Josh insisted, "it's fine."

"It's just…- -I've never felt like this before," Zoey said quietly.

"It doesn't go away," Josh whispered. Charlie had said those same words to him, and he had replied the same way some four and a half years ago, but in an entirely different context. "It doesn't go away."

s

Josh stared at the number for several minutes, phone in hand. Twice now he'd started dialing and twice he hadn't finished, hanging the phone back up. He was sitting in his living room. It was late, he hadn't gotten home until nearly nine.

Once more, Josh began punching in the numbers on his telephone. His finger hovered over the final digit and he winced, pressing it down lightly, as though hoping it wouldn't actually work. It did, too late to turn back now. He raised the phone cautiously to his ear.

It rang twice. Josh listened with bated breath. He nearly sighed with relief at the thought that no one would answer. Suddenly it clicked on the other end though.

"Hello?" Josh couldn't bring himself to answer. "Hello?" the voice said again.

Josh sat frozen, unable to speak. He finally croaked out, "John?"

s

Josh walked slowly but deliberately towards Leo's office. His conversation from the previous night was ringing in his ears.

"What can I do for you, Josh?"

It was early. He walked past CJ's office. It was empty.

"I wanted to talk about your offer from the other day?"

The Communications bullpen was silent. Two or three people were arriving and beginning to open up the place.

"I didn't expect your call so soon."

Josh continued down the silent hallways.

"Something came up."

He approached his own office.

"You're leaving the White House?"

It was just as empty. No one was anywhere in sight, unusual for him.

"Looks that way."

Leo's office drew nearer.

"How soon could you start?"

Josh's dread grew greater, but so did his excitement.

"As soon as you need me."

Margaret wasn't there yet. He knocked on Leo's door.

"That would be as soon as possible. I want to get this campaign going early as possible."

"Come in!" Leo shouted. "Hey, Josh, you're here early," he said absently, flipping through some papers on his desk. "What is it?" he asked at the look on Josh's face.

"Care to have lunch tomorrow to discuss the details?"

Josh reached slowly into his jacket pocket. He pulled out an envelope addressed to Leo. He handed it over slowly and quietly.

"Sure thing."

"What's this?" Leo asked in confusion. Josh remained silent as Leo read the letter contained within.

"Congratulations, John Hoynes, you have a new campaign manager."

s

A/N: WOO! The end! Sorry it took so long.

Okay, so you all want to kill me about now, am I right? Sorry!!!

A weird thing…I started writing this about a week ago...I'd already typed the part about Hoynes offering Josh the new job and just last night I saw the preview for next weeks West Wing with Jimmy Smits (I think?) asking Josh to run his campaign or something! It was so weird! I was thinking the same thing as the show sort of, but before I saw that part! I was like…dude! That's my idea!

Anyway…maybe there'll be a sequel? Do you want one? Or are you just going to boycott anything else I write? Or do any of you actually like the ending? I do (obviously, I wrote it)…it leaves things unanswered, but it's dramatic and sad and you get to ponder.

Well, tell me what you think!!!

Cheers!

Lexi Lyman